The isolation of biological materials such as nucleic acids or proteins from complex biological mixtures such as, e.g., clinical samples has been of considerable significance especially for diagnostic purposes.
Numerous different methods have been developed in the art, e.g., denaturing, precipitating and removing undesired components in a sample with subsequent precipitation and isolation of the analyte in question (for example alcohol-based precipitation of nucleic acids).
Another approach is the binding of the biological material to be isolated to a solid support material which may be provided, e.g., in the form of chromatographic columns.
For diagnostic purposes, and especially for the automated isolation of biological materials subject to subsequent medium- or high-throughput analysis, binding particles are often used. Such particles can have functionalized surfaces, i.e., they are often coated with antibodies, nucleic acid capture probes or the like, in order to bind the desired analyte. Alternatively, they may have unmodified surfaces such as glass surfaces particularly for the isolation of nucleic acids.
Such binding particles are, in connection with automated analyzers, often provided as a suspension in a container from which they are retrieved and dispensed with the help of pipetting tools. EP 1 614 475 suggests an approach for providing particles from a container for the isolation of biological material, disclosing the use of a container in the form of a plastic bottle agitated by a shaker, and the use of a pipet for distribution of the particles
The present invention uses an improved approach displaying several advantages.